Boycott, Divest, Sanctions Malaysia (BDS Malaysia) is utterly aghast that the Australian government under Prime Minister Scott Morrison has seen it fit to play to the Zionist tune and recognise Jerusalem, albeit only the western half, as the capital of Israel. Doing so and at the same time still declaring that it believes in the two-state solution only betrays the hypocrisy of the Morrison administration over the whole issue. As long as they are rewarded for maintaining their apartheid state and oppressive policies towards Palestinians, the Zionists will not be moved to seek a genuine and just peace with Palestinians whether it is within a two-state or one-state or ten-state framework.

BDS Malaysia also notes that in spite of prior intimations and indications from the Malaysian government that a decision on Jerusalem should be avoided out of respect for the UN resolutions regarding its final status and for a just and permanent peace between Israel and Palestine to be achieved, the Morrison administration has chosen to ignore all of them.

That being the case, BDS Malaysia calls on the Malaysian government to respond firmly in ways which entail more than mere words of condemnation:

The Malaysian foreign ministry should summon the Australian High Commissioner for Malaysia’s displeasure to be firmly conveyed to the Morrison administration.

KL should downgrade its current diplomatic relations with Canberra.

KL should review all current trading links and exchanges with Australia.

BDS Malaysia calls on all Malaysians

To participate in the peaceful demonstration planned for the afternoon of Friday, 21st December in front of the KL Australian High Commission in order to publicly express our dismay and opposition to the Morrison administration’s decision regarding the status of Jerusalem.

To avoid buying all Australian meat, dairy, agricultural and other products. Do not ask if that will have any discernible impact on the situation. Just do it. The boycott will cease once the Australian government reverses its position on Jerusalem.

We do all the above in solidarity with all Palestinians for whom the right to live in peace and dignity in their own state has been denied these past 70 years. The perpetuation of the gross injustice against Palestinians is indeed the worst moral crisis of our modern times.

In taking all the measures above, we bear no enmity whatsoever towards the people of Australia.

The Morrison administration has chosen to sell its soul and sacrifice the national interests of Australia on the altar of Trumpism.

It has chosen the same path of lawlessness and disrespect for international resolutions and close neighbours that has been taken by the pariah Zionist apartheid state.

By unashamedly and unquestioningly supporting an ongoing settler-colonist racist project called Israel which unrelentingly victimises the indigenous Palestinian population, the Morrison administration has rendered hollow and hypocritical all the words of sorrow and contrition expressed by the Australian government over the past dispossession and inhumanity inflicted on Australia’s own indigenous population.

]]>hq1512@gmail.com (Itrisyia Dayini)Press ReleasesTue, 18 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000BDS Malaysia condemns in the strongest possible terms the latest aggression by the Zionist apartheid state against the people of Gazahttp://bdsmalaysia.com/h/index.php/press-releases/item/159-bds-malaysia-condemns-in-the-strongest-possible-terms-the-latest-aggression-by-the-zionist-apartheid-state-against-the-people-of-gaza
http://bdsmalaysia.com/h/index.php/press-releases/item/159-bds-malaysia-condemns-in-the-strongest-possible-terms-the-latest-aggression-by-the-zionist-apartheid-state-against-the-people-of-gaza

MEDIA STATEMENT FROM BDS MALAYSIA

13 November 2018

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions - Malaysia (BDS Malaysia) condemns in the strongest possible terms the latest aggression by the Zionist apartheid state against the people of Gaza. Up to now, almost ten civilian buildings of no military significance, including a kindergarten have been deliberately targeted by Israeli warplanes with absolutely no concern for non-combatant casualties.

The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 expressively prohibits the harming of civilians in a war zone and the United Nations in 1993 have officially adopted the position that all provisions of the Geneva Convention are binding on all nations of the world including non-signatory countries.

BDS Malaysia therefore calls on the UN and the international community to immediately take all necessary measures to force the Zionist apartheid state to end its criminal bombing of civilians in Gaza and bring the Israeli leaders behind this barbaric onslaught to account before the International Criminal Court. The violation by Israel of the Geneva Convention is blatant and clear in this case. Inaction by the international community in the face of overwhelming evidence will only invite further outrages from the apartheid state.

The leaders of the major countries of western Europe gathered in France on Sunday, 11th November to commemorate the centenary since the end of the First World War. Sentiments were expressed by them about the horrors of war for both soldiers and civilians. The horrors of war now happening in Gaza have their roots in the First World War. The governments of those western European nations must walk the talk, express their utter revulsion to what Israel is doing now to the Palestinian people of Gaza and do everything within their means to get the apartheid state to stop its criminal actions. Anything less will just betray their hypocrisy in the case of blatant injustices done to the Palestinians by the Zionist regime.

At a time when the world, Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim, are rallying to the Palestinian cause, it is utterly shameful and bitterly disappointing to see Oman agreeing to receive the visit of the Israeli prime minister.

And at a time when the Zionist apartheid state continues unabated its criminal policy of ‘shoot-to-kill’ against unarmed Palestinian civilians of the Great Return March, a decision by any country, especially if it is both Arab and Muslim, to host a visit by the odious Netanyahu is totally reprehensible, disgusting and deserving of condemnation.

Boycott, Divest, Sanctions Malaysia (BDS Malaysia) unreservedly condemns the decision by the Sultanate of Oman to allow Netanyahu to visit the country.

Israel is using the spectre of Iran to advance its own interests. It will waste no time to use any normalisation of relations with Oman and the Gulf countries as evidence that its apartheid and oppressive policies towards Palestinians are accepted without protest by its Arab neighbours.

If it is really fear of Iran that is prompting Oman and the other Gulf states to consider Israel favourably, the government of those countries would do well to reflect on history. The Nakba of 1948, the Suez War of 1956, the June 1967 war, the 1982 invasion of Lebanon are episodes in a series of naked and brutal aggression perpetrated by Israel, not Iran, against its Arab neighbours. That series is not likely to end if the Gulf states decided to embrace the Zionist apartheid state.

If it is regime security and the fear that Iran will foment internal unrest in the Gulf countries that is pushing those countries towards Israel, their unelected rulers would do well to reflect on the sentiments and feelings of their own population were they to normalise relations with Israel. It will be a decision that may quite possibly foment unrest among their own peoples -- without any need for outside interference.

BDS Malaysia therefore strongly urges Oman and other Gulf states to continue not having any diplomatic or any other kind of ties with the Zionist apartheid state and maintain all efforts to isolate it internationally.

If the report is true, it is but an indication that trading relations between Malaysia and the Zionist apartheid state exist despite the official stand of the Malaysian government that it will not countenance any diplomatic, cultural, economic or any other form of ties whatsoever with Israel.

The public has to understand that as long as the Zionist apartheid state is treated with respectability, normality and a ‘business-as-usual’ attitude, it will consider that an endorsement of its oppressive policies towards the Palestinian people, making a just peace for all parties in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict harder to achieve. Just as the apartheid regime of South Africa was peacefully dismantled through a boycott and sanctions campaign, the same objective can be achieved using the same means against Israel. The Zionist apartheid state must continue to be the target of campaigns to isolate it.

In this respect, BDS Malaysia is disappointed that trade had taken place between Malaysia and Israel the past several years. However, we note that that had taken place when Malaysia was under a political party which since May 2018 is no longer in government.

We heartily welcome the strong pro-Palestinian stance of the new Malaysian government and encourage it to take meaningful steps to clamp down on illicit trade with the Zionist apartheid state. We therefore urge the government to:

a) investigate the allegations regarding the purchase of the Israeli spyware, establish its veracity or otherwise and if it was true, establish who in the previous government was responsible.

b) devise and announce in Parliament measures to detect and curb illicit trade with Israel.

The people and government of Malaysia should not underestimate their ability to help in the Palestinian cause. Every little bit matters. Boycotting Israeli products and forsaking trade with the Zionist apartheid state will hurt them and help to advance the struggle for justice in Palestine.

ON AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON’S PLAN TO RECOGNISE JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL

"….Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians…."

--- Excerpt from the Statement of Apology to the Aboriginal people of Australia by the Prime Minister of Australia, read in Parliament, 13 February 2008.

"….we formally offer an apology. We say sorry to those Aboriginal people forcibly removed from their families through the first seven decades of the 20th century. In doing so, we reach from within ourselves to our past, those whose lives connect us to it, and in deep understanding of its importance to our future. We will be at our best today and every day if we pause to place ourselves in the shoes of others, imbued with the imaginative capacity to see this issue through their eyes with decency and respect…."

--- Excerpt from the Statement of Apology to the Aboriginal people of Australia by the Leader of the Opposition, read in Parliament, 13 February 2008.

The above are indeed momentous statements in Australian history, made in reference to the Stolen Generations of the Aboriginal people of Australia but explicit also in their admission of past mistreatments and brutalities inflicted on the Aboriginal people by the European settler population and the misguided policies of successive Australian governments.

To the watching world, while the statements pertain to a wholly domestic matter of Australia, it is nonetheless fair to expect that the very humane spirit behind them carry over to Australia’s foreign policy. Given the contrition expressed by the Australian government, it ought to be the foremost or at least prominent on the world stage, in opposing and protesting against any form of racial violence or ethnic cleansing, episodes of which are undeniable in Australia’s own history.

In this context, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s recent statement that Australia will consider recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is certainly not in keeping with the spirit of the apology made in the Australian parliament in February 2008 and is plainly wrong on so many levels.

Palestinians, for the past seven decades and even as we speak, are subjected to all kinds of unabated oppression, brutalities, ethnic cleansing and genocide. One cannot help but wonder if Mr Morrison thought the past treatment of the Aboriginal population of Australia was wrong but the current mistreatment of Palestinians at the hand of the Israeli government is perfectly acceptable. Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will only send the message that the Australian government has neither objection nor disapproval for Israeli policy towards Palestinians.

Mr Morrison appears to be prepared to spit on the longstanding policy of previous Australian governments that the status of Jerusalem is subject to peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

He is contemptuous of the United Nations resolution that declares the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is null and void.

He is contemptuous of the UN member states who voted for that resolution.

He is contemptuous of the UN resolution that declares Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem are illegal since recognition of Jerusalem as the capital will only encourage more such settlements.

If Mr Morrison’s declaration was a by-election ploy, it is nothing but an insult to the Jewish voters of the constituency in question for lumping all of them as rabid Zionists who are unquestioningly enthusiastic about Israeli policy towards Palestinians. Such is not the case, however much the mainstream media try to give that impression.

Mr Morrison goes on and on about supporting a two-state solution as if that will justify any talk about recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. He has failed to see that a genuinely just two-state solution is now almost an impossibility given the facts on the ground in Palestine, all due to the actions of the Israeli occupying power who in the first place has never displayed any real desire to pursue a two-state solution. Even if a two-state solution is still possible, pandering to Israel by recognising Jerusalem as its capital will only render the possibility slimmer than what it is now. Mr Morrison does not seem to fathom the contradiction in his posturing.

A just peace for all parties can only be brought about if sufficient international pressure can be brought to bear on the Israeli apartheid state. Such a pressure through a non-violent boycott, divest and sanctions campaign has proven to be effective in ending apartheid in South Africa and will be equally effective in the case of apartheid Israel. We therefore call on Mr Morrison and the Australian government to give their support to the international Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement if a genuinely just peace in the Middle East is truly their goal.

The two aforementioned statements of apology were met by a standing ovation by the whole house after they were made in the Australian parliament that February day in 2008. Mr Morrison was certainly among the MPs giving that ovation. Implicit in those statements were the noble sentiments that all forms of racial violence are to be abhorred, no matter who the perpetrators and victims are, that might is not right and that the victims should not be blamed. Lest the words spoken that day were hollow meaningless ones to him, we urge Mr Morrison to live up to those sentiments and, to paraphrase the words used by his own party leader then, have the imaginative capacity to see the Palestinian-Israeli issue through Palestinian eyes with decency and respect for, just like the Aboriginal people of Australia of the past, the Palestinians of today are the blameless victims of racial violence and the might of the Israeli regime does not make its actions right.

We, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement of Malaysia call on Prime Minister Morrison to Do the Right Thing and shelve any plans by the Australian government to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“Effective BDS campaigns are based on accurate research. There is a lot of information online claiming that big companies give money to Israel. Sometimes these rumours turn out to be false."

"For example, some campaigners call for a boycott of Starbucks. But Starbucks doesn’t have any stores in Israel and officially confirms that it does not support Israel."

"Companies such as McDonald's are not priorities for the BDS movement at this stage. We focus on companies that play a clear and direct role in sustaining Israeli violations of international law and that we can have a tangible impact upon.”